Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth: My Lords, before I speak to these important government amendments, I wanted to take the opportunity to express my thanks once again to noble Lords for their careful and thorough scrutiny of the Neighbourhood Planning Bill. The Government have listened carefully to the issues that have been raised throughout these debates and have brought forward amendments to address key issues.
The Bill that we now have before us is, I believe, a better Bill as a result of the scrutiny of this House and the wealth of experience that noble Lords have been kind enough to share. I thank noble Lords for their diligent and constructive approach at each stage. I am aware that a vast number of noble Lords has contributed to the debate during the Bill’s passage, but I particularly thank noble Lords on the Benches opposite, and certainly the noble Lords, Lord Kennedy of Southwark, Lord Beecham and Lord Shipley.
I thank my ministerial team in the department, my right honourable friend Sajid Javid, and particularly my honourable friend Gavin Barwell for their help and support. Furthermore, I thank my noble friend, co-pilot  and Whip, Lord Young of Cookham, who adeptly led on the compulsory purchase elements of the Bill. Finally, I thank my officials, led by Simon Gallagher, Susan Lovelock, Darren McCreery and Robyn Skerratte, and the wider team, including my private office, and special thanks too to Grace Smith and Alanna Reid.
I now turn to the government amendments in this group. We had important discussions in Grand Committee and on Report about neighbourhood planning, and in particular the process for the examination of neighbourhood plans. My noble friend Lady Cumberlege led this discussion, and I am personally grateful for the way she did it. I should note that she was not the only participant making those arguments, and I thank my noble friends Lord Caithness and Lord Mawson and the noble Lords, Lord Kennedy, Lord Shipley and Lord Stunell, for their contributions. But I particularly thank my noble friend Lady Cumberlege for her continued generosity with her time, and for her commitment to working with my department constructively to ensure that the practice of neighbourhood planning continues to be in line with our collective aspiration to empower communities to develop neighbourhood plans. I am very conscious of the great pressure she has been under and the grace and generosity that has characterised her contribution to these important issues.
I want to set the amendment in the context of a number of important steps that the Government are taking to meet the concerns raised. I do so because the issues are too broad to be addressed through legislation alone. Noble Lords will recall that much of what needs to be done to address this important issue does not require legislative intervention.
First, we will amend planning guidance once we have taken into account the responses to the Housing White Paper consultation, to which I will return, to clarify our expectations of local planning authority engagement with neighbourhood planning groups before and during the examination process. Secondly, amendments to the Bill tabled in Grand Committee enable the Secretary of State, for example, to require authorities to set out in their statements of community involvement how they will provide advice or assistance to neighbourhood planning groups prior to examination. Thirdly, my noble friend Lady Cumberlege has raised the important role that local planning authorities play in supporting neighbourhood planning in their communities, so it is important that they have the necessary resources. This month, we have written to local planning authorities outlining the arrangements for our continued funding to them to support neighbourhood planning next year under the new burdens doctrine.
Fourthly, we have resolved in the housing White Paper —I draw noble Lords’ attention to paragraph 1.43 where this is set out—that we will make further funding available to support neighbourhood planning groups from 2018 to 2020. This sits alongside the work we are doing to develop the tools and support available to neighbourhood groups through our current support package. I can also confirm that we intend to add to the existing advice on areas such as housing need and site assessment a specific toolkit to support communities wanting to use their plan to allocate sites for housing.  This will, for example, provide advice on how neighbourhood planning groups can approach drafting policies that plan positively and provide clarity on where development will be encouraged or where it may be less appropriate, and on the type of evidence that may support a phased approach to housing delivery.
Fifthly, we are making it easier for those who are using their neighbourhood plan to allocate housing to get technical consultancy support. This includes access to a “health check” of their neighbourhood plan by an experienced examiner prior to submitting the plan to the local planning authority. Priority groups under the Government’s support contract can apply for a health check at no cost. All other groups can choose to use grants awarded through the support contract to pay for a health check.
In addition to these important steps, we are also encouraging others to take action. I referred on Report to the commitment made by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors to having procedural practice guidance in place by the autumn for the neighbourhood plan examiners it works with.
Before I turn to the Government’s specific amendment, I would like to return briefly to the issue of phasing raised by my noble friend Lady Cumberlege. Neighbourhood planning groups are already able to phase development so that it matches their view of how the community should evolve in response to the market. Where they do so, it must be backed up by clear evidence as to why there should be a restriction on when a specific site or sites should come forward for development. It should be evidence based, because we want to ensure that the proposals are deliverable.
We have listened carefully to the concerns raised by my noble friend, and government Amendment 1 will enable the Secretary of State, through regulations, to set out the procedure an examiner of a neighbourhood plan or neighbourhood development order must follow. It adds to the existing non-exhaustive list of matters that regulations may address, which is set out in paragraph 11 of Schedule 4B to the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. In exercising the power, the Secretary of State will be able to make regulations that place a duty on examiners to provide information to, and to hold meetings with, neighbourhood planning groups—the qualifying bodies—local planning authorities and others, and on the examiners to publish their draft report with their recommendations. The amendment, set alongside existing matters that regulations may already address, would give my ministerial colleagues the power to achieve what my noble friend and other noble Lords have pressed for.
We are consulting in the housing White Paper on what changes may be needed to ensure that consultation and examination procedures for all types of plan-making are appropriate and proportionate, and I draw noble Lords’ attention to paragraph A.20 where this is set out. The consultation closes on 2 May.
This amendment strikes the right balance between enabling reforms that can improve the dialogue between neighbourhood planning groups and examiners, while allowing for any future improvements to procedures to be informed through the White Paper consultation by those who will understand best how the current arrangements are working in practice. More than 350 communities  have had direct experience of the examination process. Local planning authorities will have worked with these communities and will have been responsible for arranging the examinations of the neighbourhood plans and any contracts with the examiners. There will no doubt be others with relevant experience, not least the examiners of neighbourhood plans. It is important that the examination process remains fair and open to those with an interest but does not become adversarial. Again, the housing White Paper consultation provides an opportunity for people to express views on how we might best achieve that balance.
My noble friend Lady Cumberlege has previously spoken warmly of the work my department has done to explore what a possible model for the examination process could look like. I have considered what additional material could be made available as a contribution to the debate on the changes that may be needed to the examination of neighbourhood plans. Today I have published a discussion document on the Government’s website, GOV.UK, that contains a possible model for how examinations could be improved. This is expressed in the form of a process flow chart—I know that my noble friend believes that this flow chart system is helpful; I do too. The document is in the form of an edition of Notes on Neighbourhood Planning, a regular series of bulletins from my department published on the Government’s website and sent to more than 1,500 organisations and individuals that have signed up to receive it. I would welcome representations from noble Lords on this possible model, alongside other contributions to the housing White Paper consultation.
Amendment 5 seeks to replicate the changes proposed in Amendment 1. Amendment 5 applies in circumstances where a neighbourhood planning group seeks to update an existing neighbourhood plan in the streamlined way proposed under Clause 3 and Schedule 1 to the Bill. This will ensure consistency for those examining a new or updated neighbourhood plan.
I want to leave your Lordships in no doubt that we are taking this matter very seriously, and to reassure noble Lords on the timing. It is right that we then take time fully to consider responses to the White Paper consultation, including the impact that reforms may have on voluntary and community bodies and on businesses. These amendments give the Government the powers to act on the issues raised in our debates. Clearly, that would be our intention. Noble Lords must allow us to continue to consult more widely to hear more views, so that we can be sure we have the right process. If there is consensus as a result of our consultation, we can move swiftly to prepare regulations from the commencement of this legislation. That would be our intention. I beg to move.